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Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act

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Parents/Guardians:

There are new U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations with regards to implementing the “Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act” that will generate some changes for us this school year. These changes relate to the main themes of Ensuring Adequate Time to Eat, the Use of Food as a Reward, Classroom Parties and Celebrations, Recess, and Access to Water.

The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act has implications for all buildings in our district but we are working together from Pre-K through Grade 5 as the guidelines are similar across this age range. To be in compliance, we wanted to be sure and inform parents of changes to Classroom Parties and Celebrations since parents are typically very involved regarding this aspect of the new regulations.

Here are some of the important changes...

 Birthday Parties and other Classroom Celebrations must adhere to the USDA Smart Snacks in School nutrition standards for both food and drink. (Cup cakes, sugary drinks, and items of similar content do not qualify as Smart Snacks In School. Please reference the Smart Snacks Food Finder website.

 The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act does allow for one Non-Smart Snack item to be planned once per month as part of a classroom party or celebration. As such, we will look to take advantage of this flexibility especially for classroom parties such as Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s, etc.

We realize this will be an adjustment for families and wanted to get this information out in advance of school starting next week. Please feel free to contact building administrators should you have related questions.